


It's a revolution, I suppose: Hikari of Honoiro Island

by Drel_Murn



Series: Step by Step [7]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Dreamsharing, Earth Kingdoms Rebellion, Fire Colony Rebellion, Fire Nation (Avatar), Fire Nation Capital, Fire Nation Royal Family, Fire Nation colonies, Gen, Honoiro, Honoiro | Fire Nation Capital, Negotiations, Not Canon Compliant - The Legend of Korra, Original Character-centric, POV First Person, Pre-Season/Series 01, Sane Azula (Avatar), Servants, Spies & Secret Agents, Spirits, Trust, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:01:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23384176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drel_Murn/pseuds/Drel_Murn
Summary: Azula meets with Kouki, one of her potential suitors. It . . . goes fine for her. Awesome even. (Ozai might disagree.)
Relationships: Azula & Hikari of Honoiro (OC)
Series: Step by Step [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/557249
Kudos: 5





	It's a revolution, I suppose: Hikari of Honoiro Island

**Hikari of Honoiro Island**

* * *

**Honoiro, Capital of the Fire Nation, 96 AG**

I sit across from Saito with Azula to my left, and Kouki Oshiro to my right. The tea seeping in the pot on the table between us is black tea, the tea Saito had told me was Kouki's favorite. It probably isn't. I wouldn't have spoken of Azula's favorite tea if Saito had asked me, even with the conversation Azula has planned.

I keep my eyes on the table and mechanically pour a new cup whenever someone's empties as Saito and Azula make small talk. I feel hyper aware of Fuyuko as she moves through the garden around us, sending Azula's guards out in a wider formation. Some of the guards glance over at us in surprise before they move away. The new formation is a familiar one - used by nobility whenever they need their guards close enough to still be worthy of the name guard, but far enough away that they can't hear the words being spoken.

It's the first time Azula has used the formation. Normally, you don't need it until you're talking contracts with a another lord.

I keep track of the last few guards by the flickering of Saito's eyes and the sound of their feet on gravel. The conversation trails off as Fuyuko sends the last guards away, Azula and Kouki too busy watching them retreat to make meaningless small talk. I don't turn. Fuyuko's steps are the only sounds in the courtyard as she approaches the table and settles down behind Azula.

Without the sounds of her footsteps, the open courtyard is almost silent. There's the faint sound of bird song from the garden around it, and the rustling of wind blown leaves as they skid over the gravel, and not much else.

"You went to a lot of trouble for this," Kouki says, putting one elbow on the table and resting his cheek on his palm.

"Well, I can't exactly talk with you like I talked with Aoi," Azula says. She taps her fingers on the table once, then nods to me, leaning back to pass the fifth tea cup to Fuyuko, then picking up her own cup.

I tear my gaze away from Saito, and set my cup down. Kouki's eyes are on me, eyes a shade of darjeeling tea so much lighter than the typical Fire-brown, eyes that are either a signal of either recent royal heritage, or Chaos's luck in inherited traits. It's more than a little intimidating.

"What do you think of the situation between the islands and the colonies?" I ask him. Kouki's eyes narrow. He looks over to Azula, but she ignores him, her gaze fixed on some point behind him as she very pointedly, and somewhat rudely slurps her tea loud enough to make sure that he gets the picture. He turns back to me.

"Don't you already know that?" he asks. "I'm fairly sure that Princess Azula has a tutor devoted solely to the colonies."

"That's not what I asked."

Kouki watches me for a long moment before he nods. "It's not. Saito."

I don't look at Azula, and she doesn't look at me. Across the table, Saito sits up straighter and sets his tea cup aside. His eyes seem suddenly brighter as he focuses on me, his shoulders straighter, his chin higher. It's odd to watch the transformation from the outside.

For a fleeting moment, I wonder how we must look from the outside. Two nobles in their bright clothing, with another noble acting as a guard, sitting back as two servants negotiate.

"You asked about the relationship between the islands and the colonies, right?" Saito asks, tracing the rim of his tea cup with one finger. I nod silently, and he grins at me from across the table. "I'll bet you heard something from Aoi, didn't you?"

I'd hesitate, but I've talked with Saito occasionally before. I know he doesn't speak if he isn't certain about what he's saying. If he's asking about Aoi, he knows we're in contact.

"Oh, yes, I've heard from Aoi," I say, picking up my tea cup. "Practically every time he mentions the nobles, he's talking about their angry muttering. I figured I should go straight to the source."

"Oh? You got that much out of him?"

"Well, after he was invited to Honoiro by the council for consideration as Azula's husband to be, the nobles seem to have taken a liking to him. They invite him to parties occasionally, show him off like they had something to do with his success," I reply. "But, again. Not what I asked."

"Of course," Saito says, his voice losing the lightness as I take a sip of tea. "Well, what would you be willing to give us for this information?"

"Prince Iroh's been rather mysterious since he returned, hasn't he?" I ask. I set my tea cup down and slip my hand in my pocket to grab the dragon scale Iroh gave Azula. I set it on the table between us, close enough to him that he can see it clearly, close enough to me to make it blatantly clear that I'm not giving it away. "Wouldn't you like to know some of it?"

"Is that a dragon scale?" Kouki interrupts. "It is isn't it! Azula, Azula, please let me look at it."

Azula glances up from studying the bottom of her tea cup. "Can you be quiet and let them talk? I'm trying to get information out of you here!"

"Azula, we're _ten_. I get that this is serious business and all, but that's got to be a dragon scale. I've never seen a dragon scale in my life, do you have any idea how rare they are? Of course you do, you're the princess! I've been trying to get my hands on a dragon scale for the _past five years_."

"Alright! Alright," Azula says, rolling her eyes. She grabs the scale from the table in front of me and stomps around the table to shove it into Kouki's face. He promptly grabs it and holds it to the sun. Azula waves a hand at Saito and me. "You two get back to it. You don't need either of us for this."

Saito, when I glance back to him only gives me a resigned shrug. "I was honestly just waiting for this to happen."

"And I probably should have expected it." I sigh. "So, information on Iroh for information on the island's relationship with the colonies?"

"Well, I'd _take_ that, but I rather think that information on Iroh is more valuable that what I have to tell you. You could ask practically anyone that."

"I _have_ asked people before, and everyone I speak to can only give me a vague 'oh, it's not that good'. The people Azula speaks to are worse - they're either convinced there's nothing wrong, or they refuse to tell Azula because she's a child." I snort. "Not like that stopped them from trying to force an engagement on her. I'm so glad they shifted their focus to Ozai."

"Alright, I'll take the trade." Saito says, and we clasp wrists across the table briefly.

"So," Saito says as he leans back and I pick up my tea cup again. "What did the prince do?"

"Well, he tried pretty hard to make us believe that he went and killed a dragon or two," I say.

Saito's eyes narrows, and he glances over to where Kouki is holding the scale up to the sunlight. "Did you-"

"Yes, I had it checked in the hall of records. If nothing else, it's newer than the one on display from Lord Yuuma."

"Huh. That is definitely way too much for what you're asking."

I grin at Saito. "Not if I can't get the information anywhere else."

Kouki's voice rises a bit and I glance over, but he's just talking about something to Azula, who looks increasingly annoyed as he gestures enthusiastically.

"About the colonies . . ." Saito says, drawing my attention back to him. He's frowning as he traces the rim of his cup. "There's a reason I was so surprised that you asked. Maybe it's not as well known here, but . . . the colonies are pretty resentful of the islands. Well, that's wrong. Those who control the colonies are resentful of the islands. Kouki's father especially. When we were home, he blew up about it over dinner a couple times a month - ranting about how none of the island lords will give him any respect, even though Zhimu's been in his family for the past hundred years, and about the fact that he doesn't have a place in the full council of lords, and about the colony taxes, and about the mandatory recruitment quota."

"Is it just him?" I ask without much hope.

"No," Saito says. "I won't tell you exactly who else, but I've heard many of the other colony governors complaining, and more than a few of their aides, and some of the mayors. The common people aren't worked up yet, but the latest wave of immigrants are starting to stir up trouble in the older colonies. They expected the colonies to be basically another island after at least fifty years of occupation, and instead they're finding themselves restricted and looked down upon."

"And is that it?" I ask, closing my eyes as I hold the warm cup of tea to my forehead.

"I'm almost certain that some of the governors are starting to plan a revolt?"

"Wonderful." I open my eyes and stare blankly at the short hedge that marks the border between the courtyard and the garden.

The talk doesn't last much longer. Azula gets tired of Kouki's attempt to figure out absolutely everything about the scale, and she drags me off, along with Fuyuko and the rest of her guards. She has to go to a lesson not long after that, so I don't manage to talk to her until right before dinner, with Mai and Ty Lee sitting on the bed as I put up Azula's hair.

"He basically confirmed everything Aoi was saying," I conclude as I carefully tuck another hairpin into the complicated knot and stand back to eye the whole hairstyle doubtfully. I know that I was specifically trained to do it, but each time, it feels like the whole thing is a game to see how many pins I can get into her hair at one time.

"And what do you think of the situation?" Azula asks.

"Well," I mutter as I round her chair to start on her makeup, "the islands do all have active representatives to argue their case and bring attention to their problems. I know that a few of the colony governors have representatives here, but none of their representatives are allowed into the council meetings. They have to rely on others to bring up their issues, which probably doesn't work all that well. It wouldn't be all that hard for Ozai to create a secondary council for them or to integrate them into the current council, though the current council would definitely try to object."

I pause in rubbing on the first layer of her makeup to glance down at her. "So, there's no representation, and it probably wouldn't be that hard to give representation logistically speaking. I'd be mad too."

"And my father?"

"Either he doesn't know of it - in which case he's extremely ignorant and needs better advisors," Ty Lee says from the bed, trying to make the option sound cheerful.

"Or, he knows, and doesn't care how unhappy they are," Mai says flatly. "Which is all well and good for him until the colonies decide to rebel."

Azula sighs as I turn back to the table to set down one jar of cream and reach for the next. "Is it bad that I'm starting to not trust him? There are so many things that he and Grandfather Azulon did that just . . . didn't work."

_The Air Nomad genocide. Insisting that spirits don't exist._

"I think," Mai says very deliberately, "that it's good that you're noticing. Imagine if you hadn't. Imagine . . . that you didn't think to question him. You'll inherit all of this when he dies. Do you want to inherit a mess?"

"Well then," Azula says, reaching out one hand for her two friends. Ty Lee hops off the bed and drags Mai with her so they can put their hands on top of hers, and Azula pulls my hand down on top of the pile. "I guess we have ourselves something to do."

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter title comes from Radioactive by Imagine Dragons.


End file.
